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Hey guys,

I'm a college kid with a class one medical. I went to the campus clinic because I was having some night sweats and stomach pains. The nurse said i was just stressed and said that I had some anxiety. No prescription medications issued. Just said to get some rest. So i went on about my day. Pretty much sprinting from class to class because I was late getting out of the clinic. I had no time to eat or even drink. After all my classes, I ended up going back. I told the nurse that seen me before that I don't think it was stress. I was feeling a bit better, i just got a water and started drinking it. Anyways, during our conversation, my legs got very weak and I ended up falling over. I remember falling, but when I hit my head, i got dazed for a bit. I remember other nursing running in and one yelling in my ear sayin "you are in the clinic!'. I knew I was. The nurse said "I think you may have had a seizure". I said no, i've never had anything like that before, i havn't eatin all day. It's been about 2 months and nothing similar has happened. I've made sure that i've been hydrated and eating well (and often) now i'm freaking out because i think that can kill my medical. Should I be worried? Do I need to tell my AME or the Faa? I really don't want to change my major because some nurse said I had a seizure when I know I did not. Dr. Bruce, suggestions? Your input?
 
op again, that said nurse called again a week later to confirm that i was feeling good. I told her i had came home and started to have leg cramps.Then I drank a lot of water and ate quite a bit of food and fell asleep for a long time and woke up feeling good as gold. She said that was good and said nothing more. From what i understand from the research I have done, i was just dehydrated.
 
Get and read your record, as has been said. sigh.
Be CAREFUL about dehydration. That caused a local corporate guy (CAT) to have to go through the whole nine yards, THROUGH CATH echo, holter, yada yada....
 
Sounds like the OP should be a little more worried about his health than his ticket. A young man shouldn't be so easily rendered into unconsciousness unless he's really abusing himself.
 
This is why I never go to the doctor unless I'm bleeding from places I shouldn't be. No doctor visit = it never happened. I'm not a doctor, so I can't self diagnose. If my testimony isn't admissible in court, I can truthfully say I've ever "had" anything as far as the FAA is concerned.
 
To an extent yes, I have great cholesterol which is genetics. Mild hypertension which is genetics. The knees are horrible. Did that to myself being overweight and by being a softball hero when younger. Just seems as I get older the aches and pains are magnified.
 
tmyers said:
Crap starts happening at >50 doesn't it Bruce?
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We'll see. I just turned 50 and I am doing alright. I do have to watch what I eat to keep my cholesterol down, but I have been doing that since my late 30's. I still run 3 or 4 days a week and I do get an annual physical (I actually want to know if something is wrong). I suppose age catches up with everyone, eventually, though. Genetics favors my mom's side (grandma made it to 103), but not so much my dad's side (both his parents died in their 50's). Of course dad is doing well and still golfing at 81, so it was probably the smoking that killed his parents (both from cancer).
 
bbchien said:
That'll work for just a few more years, Ed. Sigh.
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I am a vegetarian, walk 6 miles a day and have a BMI well into the normal range (well, a bit on the high side since I shrunk).

My vision is crap, I have gout and mild hypertension. I will need to see my doc soon to make certain I'm not suffering cholesterolemia as well. Oh, and I shrunk. The one damn thing I really didn't need to be was any bloody shorter!

This having existed for a half century crap is for the birds. I know, I know, it beats the alternative. But it still sucks.

Our intrepid OP better start thinking about how he's treating his body. If he's falling over as a young college student, things are going to be way worse when he becomes an old fart like me.
 
steingar said:
I am a vegetarian, walk 6 miles a day and have a BMI well into the normal range (well, a bit on the high side since I shrunk).

My vision is crap, I have gout and mild hypertension. I will need to see my doc soon to make certain I'm not suffering cholesterolemia as well. Oh, and I shrunk. The one damn thing I really didn't need to be was any bloody shorter!

This having existed for a half century crap is for the birds. I know, I know, it beats the alternative. But it still sucks.

Our intrepid OP better start thinking about how he's treating his body. If he's falling over as a young college student, things are going to be way worse when he becomes an old fart like me.
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+a whole bunch!!!
 
I went to Tulane when the drinking age was 18. If half my friends did not fall over in a given week, something was wrong. One of my good friends, would wake up on someone's frontlawn at least once a month not knowing how he got there or where he was.

As for the OP, if the nurse misdiagnosed him with a seizure, as it appears to be from his post, how does he extricate himself from the situation? Sounds almost like orthostatic hypotension, though a cardiac arrhythmia could present the same way. To me it sounds like he should see a cardiologist, and or neurologist before making any othe decisions.
 
op here, I do take pretty good care of myself. I used to be a gym nut and prior to this event, i decided to pick up where i left off, thinking my body could handle it. Bad idea now that I look back. Not to mention it's very hard to eat well in college (substitution fast food as a meal). I've never had something like this happen to me and i don't want a nurse and the campus nurses office to make me jump through hoops because i've been running around campus and haven't be able to eat or drink all day. Other then broken bones, i've never had something ever happen to me.
 
Unregistered said:
op here, I do take pretty good care of myself. I used to be a gym nut and prior to this event, i decided to pick up where i left off, thinking my body could handle it. Bad idea now that I look back. Not to mention it's very hard to eat well in college (substitution fast food as a meal). I've never had something like this happen to me and i don't want a nurse and the campus nurses office to make me jump through hoops because i've been running around campus and haven't be able to eat or drink all day. Other then broken bones, i've never had something ever happen to me.
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You may be right and this may be dehydration and orthostatic hypotension, but you cannot ignore that it happened at this point. It may be nothing to worry about, or it may be the first clue something is wrong. Every year a number of student athletes make it to the internet because they suddenly died playing the sport they loved. The common thread in many of these unexpected deaths is undiagnosed cardiac issues. Retainining your medical is not worth the loss of your life. See a doctor and get this worked up appropriately. The school nurse probably does not have the knowledge base to diagnose you properly.
 
douglas393 said:
You may be right and this may be dehydration and orthostatic hypotension, but you cannot ignore that it happened at this point. It may be nothing to worry about, or it may be the first clue something is wrong. Every year a number of student athletes make it to the internet because they suddenly died playing the sport they loved. The common thread in many of these unexpected deaths is undiagnosed cardiac issues. Retainining your medical is not worth the loss of your life. See a doctor and get this worked up appropriately. The school nurse probably does not have the knowledge base to diagnose you properly.
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op here
I know what you mean, man. I played football for 8 years of my life. Even in the intensity of that, i've never felt bad at all. Why? I drank at least a gallon of water 24 hours before gameday. Not to mention the spaghetti dinner the coaches us eat before hand. I've always had check ups through out my life because football. No history of high blood pressure, no nothing.
 
douglas393 said:
if the nurse misdiagnosed him with a seizure, as it appears to be from his post...
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No evidence in his post to support that statement. He may or may not have had a seizure, but as he admittedly had a loss of consciousness at the time, I don't think the original poster's opinion can be relied on over that of a licensed medical professional.

Jon
 
I should add that people faint all the time, often from dehydration, and the minor shaking they do is often mislabeled as a seizure. That is probably what happened, but no-one on this webboard, nor the original poster can know that.

Jon
 
You could have simply fainted..(dehydration? running out of fuel? vasovagal response?) if you jerked once or twice (which i've seen a lot) some folks may assume you had a seizure when you likely did not.

Take care of yourself, and EAT RIGHT... keep some healthy snack food with you. No mention if she checked your sugar in the middle of "diagnosing" you with seizures...
 
4CornerFlyer said:
No evidence in his post to support that statement. He may or may not have had a seizure, but as he admittedly had a loss of consciousness at the time, I don't think the original poster's opinion can be relied on over that of a licensed medical professional.

Jon
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Actually there may be. Assuming or even not assuming that the OP description of the near syncopal episode is true, his descriptions of the events leading up to the event, and the lack of any further recommended treatment, or work up by the nurse suggests that either he did not have a seizure even in the nurse's opinion(for what that is worth), or if she thought he had a seizure, she has committed medical malpractice by not doing due diligence in providing further care, workup, referrals, and what else is medically necessary for the diagnosis of a new seizure in someone without a history of seizures. Furthermore, if his description of the event is not that of a seizure but of a near syncopal episode. He states he got dazed for a minute, but does not describe loss of consciousness. In any event, it is immaterial whether or not you agree with me, because the bottom line is neither you nor I was there and given the nurse's lack of treatment, recommended follow up, and total lack of appropriate reactions to his event, I have huge doubts in her/his ability to diagnose anything neurologic especially something as complicated as a seizure(yes the diagnosis of seizure is not always easy, or straight foward as things that are definitively not seizures could appear to be a seizure to untrained eye, and things that are definitively seizures could appear not to be seizures to the untrained eye) and what he definitely needs is an evaluation by a neurologist and probably a cardiologist.
 
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Doggtyred said:
You could have simply fainted..(dehydration? running out of fuel? vasovagal response?) if you jerked once or twice (which i've seen a lot) some folks may assume you had a seizure when you likely did not.

Take care of yourself, and EAT RIGHT... keep some healthy snack food with you. No mention if she checked your sugar in the middle of "diagnosing" you with seizures...
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Agree, no mention she did anything other than let him go home, and this is somewhat disconcerting. assuming this is true, lucky for her, he is not my son, because she would be subjected to a very unhappy conversation from me.
 
EdFred said:
This is why I never go to the doctor unless I'm bleeding from places I shouldn't be. No doctor visit = it never happened. I'm not a doctor, so I can't self diagnose. If my testimony isn't admissible in court, I can truthfully say I've ever "had" anything as far as the FAA is concerned.
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That worked right up until the massive stroke into my dad's brain stem, for him, Ed. At age 61. His first bleed from someplace he shouldn't, was his last day alive.

Take that information and do with it as you wish. We could find no evidence he'd been to a Doc in 20+ years other than the eye Doc.

A 40 year old male received the gift of sight from his corneas, the only organ that was worth donating or met the criteria for being worth trying.

His systolic BP was off the scale of the blood pressure cuff at 300 in the ambulance. It's very likely he was hypertensive for a long time.

His choice and true to his character, but you may not want to emulate it. Your call.

Doc is right on this one. It can sneak up on you faster than you think and you don't always get any warning.

Now to be fully honest, we found things just a bit "too organized" and we suspect he may have had some symptoms we all missed and he knew it, but we will never truly know.

The biggest red flag we all missed was he cancelled his ski pass and ski vacation in March that he took every year to Steamboat. He gave everyone a different story as to why. We all bought the stories. He was, after all, a professional salesman his whole life, after leaving the Navy.
 
Unregistered said:
op again, that said nurse called again a week later to confirm that i was feeling good. I told her i had came home and started to have leg cramps.Then I drank a lot of water and ate quite a bit of food and fell asleep for a long time and woke up feeling good as gold. She said that was good and said nothing more. From what i understand from the research I have done, i was just dehydrated.
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You have the right to read and have entered written corrections to your records.
 
4CornerFlyer said:
No evidence in his post to support that statement. He may or may not have had a seizure, but as he admittedly had a loss of consciousness at the time, I don't think the original poster's opinion can be relied on over that of a licensed medical professional.

Jon
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He was dazed for a bit. Thats different from a loss of consciousness. Having a twitch or two when you faint is not a full on epileptic seizure, and being dazed for a bit is not the same has having a postictal period.

Without impeaching the entire healthcare profession, I will just say that simply having a nursing license doesn't always mean they've even SEEN an actual seizure at any point in their entire career. If she's spent her entire career in a student clinic, or if she's new, I'd bet you dollars to donuts thats the case.

There is no evidence to support he actually HAD a seizure, other than the OP's statement that the nurse said he MIGHT have had one, combined with a report of being dazed, not unconscious.

You can believe what you want, but I'm betting I have a lot more experience with this sort of thing.
 
douglas393 said:
Agree, no mention she did anything other than let him go home, and this is somewhat disconcerting. assuming this is true, lucky for her, he is not my son, because she would be subjected to a very unhappy conversation from me.
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Actually... if the son was an adult... No.. she wouldn't. Because she wouldn't be having that conversation with you. If you disagreed, you could always take your son to the ER.
 
Dave Krall CFII said:
You have the right to read and have entered written corrections to your records.
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Actually this is only partially correct. You have the right to read your medical record or for that matter allow anyone you want to read you medical records(with appropriate releases), you have the right to request and get copies of your medical records, and you have the right to communicate(written is preferable to verbal) with the health profession who produced your medical record about concerns you have with your medical record and thing you think should be changed. However, you DO NOT have the right to write or change things in your medical records, you can request changes but only the health professional who produced the record can change it. Furthermore with electronic medical records(EMR) once the entry has been approved by the producer it cannot be changed. An addendum can be made but the actual record cannot be changed.
 
Doggtyred said:
Actually... if the son was an adult... No.. she wouldn't. Because she wouldn't be having that conversation with you. If you disagreed, you could always take your son to the ER.
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Actually you are wrong. My adult son can have anyone who he wants to talk to the nurse about his healthcare. It is called having a healthcare surrogate. She can refuse to speak to me, but as long as I treat her with respect she has no right to refuse to speak to me if that is what my son wants. If she did refuse I would suspect that she would not like what her state licensing board has to say about that. If I am disrespectful she certainly has the right to end any conversation. I can disagree with her, but it has to be in a respectful fashion. In fact, a patient can ask anyone they want to be their health care surrogate.

I could take him to the ER that is true.
 
Doggtyred said:
He was dazed for a bit. Thats different from a loss of consciousness. Having a twitch or two when you faint is not a full on epileptic seizure, and being dazed for a bit is not the same has having a postictal period.

Without impeaching the entire healthcare profession, I will just say that simply having a nursing license doesn't always mean they've even SEEN an actual seizure at any point in their entire career. If she's spent her entire career in a student clinic, or if she's new, I'd bet you dollars to donuts thats the case.

There is no evidence to support he actually HAD a seizure, other than the OP's statement that the nurse said he MIGHT have had one, combined with a report of being dazed, not unconscious.

You can believe what you want, but I'm betting I have a lot more experience with this sort of thing.
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Be careful, with what you are saying because although it is correct it is not politically correct and that makes it wrong.
 
Unregistered said:
op here, I do take pretty good care of myself. I used to be a gym nut and prior to this event, i decided to pick up where i left off, thinking my body could handle it. Bad idea now that I look back. Not to mention it's very hard to eat well in college (substitution fast food as a meal). I've never had something like this happen to me and i don't want a nurse and the campus nurses office to make me jump through hoops because i've been running around campus and haven't be able to eat or drink all day. Other then broken bones, i've never had something ever happen to me.
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Lean to cook. You'll eat better and probably stop falling over. A little something to exhibit my thoughts on fast food.

 
steingar said:
Lean to cook. You'll eat better and probably stop falling over. A little something to exhibit my thoughts on fast food.
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It is a lot harder to eat healthy in college, especially if you live in a dorm, which often have no kitchen. I am not saying it can't be done, but it can be more difficult.
 
John221us said:
It is a lot harder to eat healthy in college, especially if you live in a dorm, which often have no kitchen. I am not saying it can't be done, but it can be more difficult.
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Most dormitories have some sort of dining hall where one can eat a reasonably balanced diet.
 
denverpilot said:
A 40 year old male received the gift of sight from his corneas, the only organ that was worth donating or met the criteria for being worth trying.
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As a 39 year old male who received a donor cornea 6 years ago and is now a private pilot, I thank you and your father on behalf of this man and anyone else who had quality of life improvements from donor tissue. I know it doesn't help, but someone out there is living a substantially different and better life because of this gift.

Back to your regularly scheduled thread =)
 
ChrisK said:
As a 39 year old male who received a donor cornea 6 years ago and is now a private pilot, I thank you and your father on behalf of this man and anyone else who had quality of life improvements from donor tissue. I know it doesn't help, but someone out there is living a substantially different and better life because of this gift.

Back to your regularly scheduled thread =)
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Didn't know Chris about you being a recipient, but he definitely wanted "anyone who needs any parts" to have them when he was done with them. Haha.

It actually made the day much longer. Brain stem injuries are not "brain death" under Colorado law, and you wouldn't believe the hoops the poor donation places have to jump through to decide if they can get someone with a massive brain stem injury pronounced legally dead so they can take organs.

They were great folks but that process wasn't fun.

You have to remove the person from life support for ten minutes and measure their strength. If they're likely to survive more than 60 minutes, they can't be pronounced legally dead in Colorado. Don't know about elsewhere.

And there's loopholes galore... Example, if they're "too strong" but can't maintain their own airway, a Judge will agree they can't survive. Etc etc etc.

He was very much a South Dakota and Northen Colorado farm kid... Just parts for the tractor... If he wasn't using them, anyone else was welcome to them. :)
 
douglas393 said:
Actually this is only partially correct. You have the right to read your medical record or for that matter allow anyone you want to read you medical records(with appropriate releases), you have the right to request and get copies of your medical records, and you have the right to communicate(written is preferable to verbal) with the health profession who produced your medical record about concerns you have with your medical record and thing you think should be changed. However, you DO NOT have the right to write or change things in your medical records, you can request changes but only the health professional who produced the record can change it. Furthermore with electronic medical records(EMR) once the entry has been approved by the producer it cannot be changed. An addendum can be made but the actual record cannot be changed.
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My statement is totally correct and does not mention the patient changing their records by themselves.
 
douglas393 said:
However, you DO NOT have the right to write or change things in your medical records, you can request changes but only the health professional who produced the record can change it. Furthermore with electronic medical records(EMR) once the entry has been approved by the producer it cannot be changed. An addendum can be made but the actual record cannot be changed.
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That is completely correct. You can request addenda be added, but that is all.
 
douglas393 said:
Actually you are wrong. My adult son can have anyone who he wants to talk to the nurse about his healthcare. It is called having a healthcare surrogate. She can refuse to speak to me, but as long as I treat her with respect she has no right to refuse to speak to me if that is what my son wants. If she did refuse I would suspect that she would not like what her state licensing board has to say about that. If I am disrespectful she certainly has the right to end any conversation. I can disagree with her, but it has to be in a respectful fashion. In fact, a patient can ask anyone they want to be their health care surrogate.

I could take him to the ER that is true.
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You are partially correct. Anyone can be a surrogate if so appointed by an adult. The surrogate decision making only occurs if the patient is unable to make decisions due to incapacity. If the patient can make his own decisions there is no need for a surrogate.

If an interested third party, related or not, tried to take me to task and chew my ass, I'd be perfectly within MY right to terminate the discussion. And while the third party might raise a stink, that's as far as it goes. Now. If you wanted to ask why a certain treatment decision was made, and wanted to really understand what was happening, I'm sure I, or any other healthcare professional would be willing to educate you. But to proclaim up front you'd give a piece of your mind to the staff for making what appears (from the limited info given) to be an appropriate treatment decision.... That dog won't hunt.

On a side note. I'm not known for political correctness. That's why I'm not in management.

And Bruce is right. You cannot force a change to your medical records. You have the right to insert an addendum, but not edit other entries.
 
Dave Krall CFII said:
You have the right to read and have entered written corrections to your records.
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This is your post. I agree you have the right to read your records. You can ask for factual information to be fixed, but if the health profession disagrees with what you want fixed you do not have a right to that correction. You cannot force the health profession to change his/her record if you disagree but they do not want to correct it. As for the OP for example, if the nurse wrote she that her assessment was seizures, and you requested a correction because you felt it was incorrect, you have the right to ask her to change the diagnosis, but you do not have the right to have that entered if she disagrees. Therefore you are partially correct as I stated before. Furthermore, your original statement is somewhat ambiguous because it can be interpreted as you have the right to enter written corrections to your records, which you do not have. You can ask for something to be put in, you can ask for a letter you wrote to be put in, but you cannot change your records, and furthermore changing records have to be done in certain very clear ways.
 
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